Blog Assignment #10

While watching the first one of Ms. Cassidy's videos, I was simply amazed with how much she used technology in her classroom. She teaches such an ambitious group of students who seem to want to learn more, and do more with technology in the classroom. This video was such an amazing way to show how affective technology can be for students. I gained many ideas from this video that I would be able to use in my future classroom such as; using blogs, Nintendo DS's, and Wiki's.

While watching interview one, and interview two with Ms. Cassidy, I gained a deeper understanding of how her classroom works. She talked about how affective blogging was for her students. Her students are excited to write on their blogs because of how many people across the web will be able to see what they write. The blogging site that her students use, allow them to see how many people have looked at their blogs. The students get extremely excited when they see someone comment on their blog post, whether it is a family member, or someone from a different state. They also practice their writing and grammar skills when making a post. One thing I could see that would interrupt the blogging process would be if a student made a rude comment on another students blog that could possibly bring up an argument or dispute. To prevent this from happening I would check my students blog pages periodically. Blogging is something I would definitely love to use in my future classroom. A benefit of using blogging in the classroom would be having students practice writing, and also practice commenting on other students work. Something else that I would love to use in my future classroom are Wiki's. I love the idea of students being able to see other students work, and being able to interact with them too. Using Wiki is a great way to get ideas from other teachers that you could use in your own classroom. I can definitely see the use of Wiki becoming something fun and useful at the same time for teachers and students.

The last video was interview three. In this video, students from EDM310 got a chance to ask Ms. Cassidy some questions they had about teaching with technology. They had some very good questions. One student asked how often Ms. Cassidy's students get on their blog. She replied that it depends on the year and the class size of her students. Sometimes her students blog more to practice their writing and grammar skills, but if they are assigned to do something with another teacher that day, then they may not get around to blogging. Overall, she replied that her students blog once or twice a week. Another EDM310 student asked about the use of networking in Ms. Cassidy's personal life vs. in the classroom. She stated that she used to never use it for personal reasons, but now she is using it more than ever. She says that she is now using Facebook, and Twitter. She finds them to be very affective ways for gaining information from other teachers and educators.

Overall, watching the interviews with Ms. Cassidy has completely inspired me! I have learned so many new things to do with my students using technology. As Ms. Cassidy said, technology will never slow down. So I should not be inclined to believe that I won't use it in my future classroom, because I will. My students will want to use it more than ever. It is so nice to be able to receive advice form an educator, knowing I will be in their shoes soon.